A film about the origins of Magna Carta created for the launch of a unique digital arts platform has won a national media award.

The Empty Throne, a featurette produced by staff, students and graduates of the Lincoln School of Film & Media at the University of Lincoln, UK, was named winner of the Educational Multimedia Award at the Learning on Screen Awards 2016.

The judging panel praised its “beautiful production design, innovative staging and for bringing ideas of kingship and democracy to life”.

Directed by award-winning filmmaker Philip Stevens, The Empty Throne depicts key characters and events that led to the sealing of Magna Carta in 1215.

The city of Lincoln is home to one of only four originals of the great charter and the city was central to the 800th anniversary celebrations marked in democratic countries across the world in 2015.

The Empty Throne was commissioned as the centrepiece for last year’s launch of the 1215.today project, a unique digital platform where, through the universal language of art, young people between the ages of 14-24 can discover, experience and participate in debating humanitarian ideals across borders, religion and race.

Led by the University of Lincoln in collaboration with regional arts organisations, businesses, schools and the city and county councils, 1215.today is supported using public funding from the National Lottery through an Exceptional Award from Arts Council England and a host of national and international partners.

Dr Sarah Barrow, Head of the Lincoln School of Film & Media and 1215.today Project Lead at the University of Lincoln, said: “We’re so proud that The Empty Throne has won this category at the Learning on Screen Awards 2016. The film brings the characters of the Magna Carta story to life in a compelling and visually distinctive way, and by integrating it into a public event with live actors inside the grounds of Lincoln Castle last summer, it was the perfect platform from which to launch our 1215.today digital arts project. The fact such a distinguished panel of judges has now recognised its qualities is a credit to everyone involved in the production.”

Director and co-producer of The Empty Throne, Philip Stevens, an award-winning film and theatre director and lecturer in Film Production at the University of Lincoln, said the film’s distinctive art direction was intended as a ‘living painting’ inspired by artists such as Caravaggio, Vermeer and da Vinci.

Chris Hainstock, Senior Lecturer in the Lincoln School of Film & Media, created the sound design in the University’s Lincoln Sound Theatre, while fellow Senior Lecturer Dominique Webb was a joint Producer and Assistant Director on the production.

The Learning on Screen Awards, run by the British Universities Film and Video Council, are the UK's only celebration of film and media production in education, recognising the work of individuals and organisations producing educational media.

This year’s winners were announced at an awards ceremony on 28th April 2016 at the BFI Southbank in London.